Puzzles with numbers and things

[davis_greatest]

Round 142 - Snooker Plus Plus square

Yesterday, I played Snooker Plus Plus, a variant of Snooker Plus, with my pet gorilla, Gordon.

Snooker Plus is just like normal snooker, except there are two extra colours added to the usual set: an orange ball (8 points) and a purple ball (10 points). We have gone a bit further, and in Snooker Plus Plus we have also added a silver ball (9 points).

Gordon broke off and snookered me. In trying to escape, I hit a colour instead of a red. Charlie, my pet chimpanzee, who was refereeing, called Foul and a Miss, and the balls were replaced. I made a few successive misses, each time fouling by hitting the same colour, until I finally landed on a red, to rapturous applause by the audience of none.

By this time, we noticed that Gordon's accumulated points score was a square number.

Sadly, I left a pot on, and Gordon proceeded to make a total clearance, starting by potting red, purple, red, purple with his first 4 pots. On glancing nervously at the scoreboard periodically, I also noticed that, after every 6th pot (so after the 6th, 12th, 18th etc), Gordon's accumulated points score in the frame was always a square number.

1) Which colour did I keep fouling at the start?

2) How big was Gordon's break?

3) By how many points was he short of scoring a "maximum"?

Any answers please, by Private Message within the first 24 hours; thereafter, on this thread.

[abextra]

I know that I stopped awarding points, but you can have:

one point for a correct solution; plus
one bonus point if you remain less confused than I became while typing all that (especially trying to formulate statement 6).

So, what about the points? I'm sure snookersfun wasn't confused at all!

[snookersfun]

So, what about the points? I'm sure snookersfun wasn't confused at all!

lol Abextra!!!
No, but..., well.... , we will just end up with fractions of bananas again.

[davis_greatest]

True - I don't think that snookersfun was confused - we can go back to awarding points and aiming to win that magical banana if you like!

In the meantime, round 142 will remain open until 22:00 UK time - that is 21:00 GMT - tonight. Correct answers have been received by snookersfun, abextra, and new entrant, oddyseus, who is hereby welcomed to the Puzzles with numbers and things Hall of Frame:

Oliver (my pet orang-utan)
Gordon (my pet gorilla)
Charlie (my pet chimpanzee)
snookersfun
abextra
davis_greatest (Oliver's, Gordon's and Charlie's pet something)
Vidas
chasmmi
elvaago
robert602
Sarmu
The Statman
austrian_girl
austrian_girl's dad
Semih_Sayginer
Snooker Rocks!
Ginger_Freak
April Madness
steveb72
rambon
Microsoft Excel
dantuck_7
berolina
Parklife Ricky
oddyseus

This was the latest version of the Puzzles with numbers and things Hall of Frame that I could find. If anyone thinks that he or she was on there previously and is now missing, please let me know.

Round 143 will follow, while round 142 remains open.

[davis_greatest]

Round 143 - Big Ape Break returns!

Seasoned regulars on this thread will remember the Saturday night snooker game show, Big Ape Break, hosted by Gordon the gorilla. Oliver the orang-utan does trick shots involving cues and wicker baskets, and tells the contestants to "Pot as many balls as you can."

The rules are just like before, except that if a coloured ball is potted into a pocket of the same colour, points scored are now triple (previously, they were double). Here are the full rules:

On the show, contestants play a frame of snooker, just like any normal frame of snooker except that:

a) each of the 6 pockets is coloured. The colours of the pockets are:
yellow for the left-centre pocket and then, moving clockwise, blue, brown, green, pink, black - a bit like this:

0------0
!.........!
!.........!
!.........!
0------0
!.........!
!.........!
!.........!
0------0

b) Once a colour has been potted, the same colour cannot be potted following the next red, nor following the red after that. (Once the 15th red and colour have been potted, this rule no longer applies - the final colours may and must be potted in the usual order of yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black, regardless of the colours potted with the final reds.)

Example 1: Red Brown Red Yellow Red Blue Red Brown IS allowed
BUT
Example 2: Red Brown Red Yellow Red Brown IS NOT

Example 3: For the 14th and 15th red,
Red Black Red Yellow Yellow Green Brown Blue Pink Black IS allowed


c) Whenever a colour has been potted, the following colour cannot be potted into any pocket that lies along the same edge of the table. That means that it cannot be potted into a pocket on the same side of the table (left or right) and, if it is a corner pocket, cannot be potted into a pocket at the same end of the table either.

This applies even when down to the final 6 colours.

For example, after potting a colour into the pink pocket, it would not be permissible to pot the next colour into the pink, green or brown pockets (same side), nor into the black pocket (same end)

d) None of these rules apply to reds. It makes no difference into which pockets reds are potted.

e) And this is the important bit: potting a colour into a pocket of the same colour as the ball (e.g. pink into pink pocket) scores triple points (in this example 3 x 6 = 18).


Your question is, what is the highest break (ignoring free balls) you can make?

You don't need to say the highest theoretically possible - you just need to give a bid of the highest that YOU can find. Whoever has bid the highest by 23:00 UK time (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday 28 March will be invited to explain how it is possible. If someone bids the maximum possible before then, the round will be closed early.

I.e. if you have the highest bid, you would then need to explain how. For example, you would then say:

Red
Green into Yellow pocket (or whatever)
Red
Pink into Brown pocket (or whatever)
....
...

and after all 15 reds and colours...

Yellow into Yellow pocket (or whatever)
Green into Pink pocket (or whatever)
Brown into Blue pocket (or whatever)
....




Finally, you are reminded that round 142 remains open for just over 9 more hours!
http://www.thesnookerforum.com/showp...ount_1591.html

[snookersfun]

he dug up his 'nice little' program...

[April madness]

he digged up his 'nice little' program...

or wrote up a new one in the weekend

[davis_greatest]

or wrote up a new one in the weekend

No, I'm far too lazy to do that!

Any bids, please post them on this thread. I've had a bid of 303 from rambon - don't let that put you off though, as I'm pretty sure that it's impossible to get that high!

[snookersfun]

first time through, let's start this at 273!

[rambon]

Rambon humbly apologises for mis-reading the question and crawls back into his hole. I can equal but can't beat 273 at the moment...

[davis_greatest]

Excellent opening bids!

As 273 cannot be beaten, I shall invite snookersfun, rambon, or anyone else who gets in there first, to post explanations on this thread of how to get 273.

[snookersfun]

OK, rambon, pretty girls first, if you like...

[abextra]

OK, rambon, pretty girls first, if you like...

I've heard the tradition ''ladies (or pretty girls) first'' comes from a time long long ago. When a tribe of cavemen found a new cave, they always ''allowed'' women enter first. Just in case there's something dangerous inside... for example a bear... or a lion... or an attacking snookercue...

[davis_greatest]

Round a dozen dozens - Big Ape Break Bonus

I've heard the tradition ''ladies (or pretty girls) first'' comes from a time long long ago. When a tribe of cavemen found a new cave, they always ''allowed'' women enter first. Just in case there's something dangerous inside... for example a bear... or a lion...

Well, you can't say fairer than that, abextra!

As I am shortly going offline, and the rounds are being solved so quickly, I'll also post a quick round 144 for those looking for something to do.

Round 144 - Big Ape Break Bonus

This is exactly the same as round 143 (http://www.thesnookerforum.com/showp...unt_1595.html), except that potting a colour into a pocket of the same colour as the ball (e.g. pink into pink pocket) scores a bonus of three points (in this example, pink into pink pocket would score 6+3 = 9 points).

Post bids here for the highest break you can find.



Round 142 closes in about 30 minutes - as that's nearly here, please would someone post the answer here (snookersfun, oddyseus, abextra - or anyone else who wishes to solve it).

And round 143 Big Ape Break Returns needs someone to post an explanation please of how to make the break of 273.

[abextra]

Round 142

1) Which colour did I keep fouling at the start?
2) How big was Gordon's break?
3) By how many points was he short of scoring a "maximum"?

1) it was black ball... 7 times!
2) Gordon's break was 174 points
3) maximum in Snooker Plus Plus is 219, so Gordon was short of scoring it by 45 points.

Round 143

With red balls: black, green, blue, pink, yellow, brown,
. . . . . . . . . . black, green, blue, pink, yellow, brown,
. . . . . . . . . . black, green, blue

(every colour into it's own colour pocket)

15 + 207 = 222 points

final colours: yellow into green pocket
. . . . . . . . . green . . . yellow . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . brown . . . green . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . blue . . . . . blue . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . pink . . . . . green . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . black . . . . black . . . . .

2 +3 + 4 + 3*5 + 6 + 3*7 = 51 points

in total 222 + 51 = 273 points